Construction work commenced Tuesday on the latest cycle of providing a safe, accessible path to-and-from the city's schools, according to the city engineer.

By Jack Barnwelljbarnwell@ridgecrestca.com

Construction work commenced Tuesday on the latest cycle of providing a safe, accessible path to-and-from the city's schools, according to the city engineer.According to Loren Culp, the city engineer, the project is funded by the Safe Routes to School project, which is funded by the California Department of Transportation.Culp said by email Thursday this cycle of construction benefitted the areas around Las Flores and Faller elementary schools."The east side of South Guam Avenue between West Bowman Road and West Iowa Avenue will have construction of missing sidewalk sections," Culp said. "There will also be ADA compliant handicap ramps and crosswalks constructed at the East Quam Avenue and South Iowa Avenue intersection to serve the Faller Elementary School."Additional work is being done to upgrade ADA access near Las Flores Elementary as well, Culp said."The North side of West Las Flores Ave., at the intersections of Randall and Scott, will receive ADA compliant handicap ramps to serve the Las Flores Elementary School," Culp said.Ridgecrest awarded the construction bid to the Bakersfield-based Cen-Cal Construction for a contract of $87,742, according to Culp.The city council approved the contract at its April 17 council meeting.Cen-Cal won the bid over two other companies, ANM Construction and MJS Construction, Inc, according to an April 17 staff report.ANM bid $92,936 and MJS bid $109,897 for the project."The total cost of the project, which includes construction management, is $96,075.25," the April 17 staff report states.The project was put out to bid a second time, following the rejections of all initial contract offers by the council at its Dec. 19 meeting.Construction work is expected to wrap up June 17 based on a 25 working-day schedule.Past projects have been completed by using Safe Routes to School funding. Both Caltrans and the federal government fund the programs.Money is earmarked for projects to help remove barriers that hinder children's ability to walk or bicycle to school, according to Caltrans."Those barriers include lack of infrastructure, unsafe infrastructure, lack of programs that promote walking and bicycling through education/encouragement programs aimed at children, parents, and the community," Caltrans states on its website.